Man charged with soliciting in online sting

Anthony Lezzo, a 44-year-old Levittown, Pa., resident, was arrested by the FBI yesterday morning in Bethesda and charged with traveling to Maryland to engage in a sexual act with a minor.

The FBI said Lezzo, using the Internet, contacted a person he believed to be a 13-year-old female and indicated a willingness to engage in sexual acts with her and to travel to Maryland to do so.

In reality, the person posing as a 13-year-old was an FBI agent tTC working under the bureau's Innocent Images investigation, which being coordinated through the agency's Baltimore office and targets Internet users who solicit sex from minors.

When Lezzo arrived at a pre- arranged location in Montgomery Mall in Bethesda, the FBI said, he was arrested by agents.

He was charged with traveling in interstate commerce for the purpose of engaging in a sexual act with a person under the age of 18 and was being held in Greenbelt, awaiting an appearance in federal court, the FBI said.